lunes, 30 de mayo de 2005

[link] Is 'CraigsNews' Coming Soon? By Eric Hellweg

While mainstream media outlets grapple with the role they will play in the 21st century, a new kind of media is on the rise, one that promises greater transparency in the creation of news.

It's called collaborative citizen journalism (CCJ), where ordinary citizens band together on the Web to write original stories and critique mainstream media stories, using the Internet to connect with each other and to make sure their thoughts reach the public.

This new form of journalism differs from its more popular blogging cousin in that, unlike blogging, which eschews (in many cases) the more rigorous elements of journalism, collaborative media efforts tap into a particular community to make sure a story is as complete as possible.

In some cases, such as the Korean site OhMyNews, CCJ stories are reported by a team of volunteer journalists; in others, such as Wiki News, a group does serial fact-checking and vetting on an existing piece, calling attention to errors or omissions. (leer más...)

This report examines the debate over the success or failure of e-learning in the USA. It tracked the changing attitudes about and perceptions of e-learning by faculty and technical staff over 18 months across a wide sample of US colleges and universities each with substantial investments in e-learning. It also mapped the changing supply of e-learning providers and products.The study debunks three failed assumptions:• If we build it they will come: not so; despite massive investments in both hardware and software, there has yet to emerge a viable market for e-learning products. Only course management systems (principally BlackBoard and WebCT)—and PowerPoint lectures (the electronic equivalent of clip-art) have been widely employed. At the institutions participating in the study, more than 80 percent of their enrollments in “online” courses came from students already on their campuses.• The kids will take to e-learning like ducks to water: not quite; students do want to be connected, but principally to one another; they want to be entertained, principally by games, music, and movies; and they want to present themselves and their work. E-learning at its best is seen as a convenience and at its worst as a distraction—what one student called “The fairy tale of e-learning.”• E-learning will force a change in the way we teach: not by a long shot; only higher education’s bureaucratic processes have proved more immutable to fundamental change. Even when they use e-learning products and devices, most faculty still teach as they were taught—that is, they stand in the front of a classroom providing lectures intended to supply the basic knowledge the students need. Hence, we see the success of course management systems and PowerPoint— software packages that focus on the distribution of materials rather than on teaching itself. (leer más...)

jueves, 26 de mayo de 2005

The work of instructional designers has changed considerably in the past decade. Gone are the days when our biggest challenges were getting enough time from subject matter experts for task analysis or building interactivity into computer-based training materials. We still have those challenges of course, but in addition we have to contend with:

* increasingly complex and distributed development processes and access/delivery environments, * designing modular learning assets that can be used and reused in different ways by different audiences, * designing non-traditional learning spaces and systems that facilitate knowledge sharing and collaborative learning, * designing learning and performance support materials that are embedded in work tasks and situations.

When approaching any of these design challenges it is sometimes easy to lose sight of fundamental principles that apply to all learning and all external conditions that support learning and performance. This article revisits some of those principles:

* Learning is not performance * The medium is not the method * Match external and internal conditions * Authentic practice makes perfect * One size does not fit all(leer más...)Fuente: [the criterion]

Pair Programming is a technique from the software development method eXtreme Programming (XP) whereby two programmers work closely together to develop a piece of software. A similar approach has been used to develop a set of Assessment Learning Objects (ALO). Three members of academic staff have developed a set of ALOs for a total of three different modules (two with overlapping content). In each case a pair programming approach was taken to the development of the ALO. In addition to demonstrating the efficiency of this approach in terms of staff time spent developing the ALOs, a statistical analysis of the outcomes for students who made use of the ALOs is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the ALOs produced via this method.

Learning objects [LOs] (Wiley 2000a) are a new design concept for “learning content”: digital entities suitable for reuse. Instructional Designers build small instructional components that can be re-used in different contexts. An example learning object would be a short introduction to Boolean logic. This object could be incorporated into many subject areas: mathematics; philosophy; computing; engineering. Related objects could include a multiple choice test on simple propositional logic tautologies. Where a LO is designed for assessment it can be called an Assessment Learning Object [ALO].

Many of the different approaches to Instructional Design are based on software development methods. For a range of software development project types, traditional software engineering methods have begun to be regarded as too “heavyweight”, given their lack of flexibility. This led to the development of various "lightweight" or "agile" approaches to software design. Combinations of such approaches are often grouped under the title “eXtreme Programming” [XP] (Beck 2000). One of the most commonly used elements of XP is “Pair Programming”, which involves two programmers working on a small independent section of a program. One programmer “drives” the development, typing in the actual code, while the other combines the role of “navigator” (deciding which direction the “driver” takes next) with that of “driving instructor” (providing instant feedback and review of the code being produced). The two programmers periodically switch roles and, when necessary, brainstorm solutions to tricky sections.

At The University of Reading a blended learning (Lubega and Williams 2003) approach is taken to the separate modules: (leer más...)

[link] Learn for fun, learn for life

Across the country learning events and programmes are expertly designed to cater for all needs and tastes, and are offering everything from computing to samba, says Richard Louden

When it comes to devising events for Adult Learners Week, Scotland’s public and voluntary agencies can draw on a wealth of experience which is deployed year in, year out to create adult education programmes for all needs and tastes.

They may even enlist local celebrities to generate maximum publicity. The North-East Scottish Adult Learning Partnership, which links Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils with local universities and colleges, Careers Scotland and First Group, recently involved Aberdeen FC players in the official launch of its 2005 diary of events at Pittodrie Stadium.

Rhonda Fraser, marketing and media manager at Aberdeen College, said: “Thanks to the Partnership, we have produced a diary with more than 180 activities, many of which would not have been possible but for institutions working together, combining their resources and activities. We have forged valuable links that will drive Adult Learners Week in years to come.” (leer más...)

[not] Se lanza dokeos 1.6 beta

Dokeos 1.6 release notesFrom DokeosHere we describe some important changes in Dokeos 1.6. For a complete list of changes, please see the roadmap.

Dokeos 1.6 beta IMPORTANT The Dokeos 1.6 beta releases are unstable releases designed to let the community experiment with new features and give us feedback and bug reports. They should not be used on production servers. It is possible to upgrade from Dokeos 1.5, 1.5.4 and 1.5.5 to Dokeos 1.6 beta or Dokeos 1.6 beta, but this feature has not been tested enough yet, do not use it and expect everything to work perfectly. Some bugs have already been reported.

The beta release contains some known bugs. We have been improving the security in Dokeos and are eliminating the need for register globals to be on. This process is not entirely done, for instance the forum, exercise, and learning path tools are not completely ready yet. All bug reports are welcome, also for these tools.

Please report bugs in the Bus Dokeos 1.6 beta part of the Dokeos forum (http://www.dokeos.com/forum/), this way you help us fix the bugs and release a stable 1.6.

What's new? More complete translations - thanks to the new translation tool (http://www.dokeos.com/DLTT/index.php), it's now possible to make translations via a web browser. Because the process is easier - but still labour intensive - many translations are more up to date than ever. The beta release does not include the latest translations yet, you'll need to download these from the translation website. For Dokeos 1.6 stable release, we will automatically provide the latest translations available at release time.

lunes, 16 de mayo de 2005

In support of the revitalisation of the Lisbon agenda to become the world’s most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010, the European Commission is organising a conference on eLearning which will take place in Brussels on 19-20 May 2005. The conference will bring together a cross section of the various stakeholders involved in eLearning in Europe, and will provide the perfect forum for sharing experiences, exchanging good practices and taking stock of the added value of using ICT in education and training.

While the European Union enjoys one of the highest levels of education and has the necessary investment capacity, there is much progress yet to be made in the use of new information and communication technologies. The conference will reflect on the need to reform education and training systems for the knowledge society, promoting digital literacy, e-skills, the upskilling of the workforce and lifelong learning for all.

The conference is structured such that it will:

* Provide a vision of European eLearning policies; * Take stock of the situation existing today; * Work towards developing a forward looking approach.

Learning and the use of ICT will be examined from a number of complementary perspectives:

Education - supporting the development of key life skills and competencies; (leer más...)

The contemporary course management system (CMS) is both a blessing and curse for our evolving understanding of the value of e-learning technologies within the context of higher education.

The upside of the CMS is that popular e-learning platforms like WebCT™ and Blackboard™ have provided faculty with an array of user-friendly tools for the rapid publication of course content and management. This has increased our collective knowledge base about successful online practices and the readiness, or lack thereof, of specific student populations for this mode of educational delivery. However, the downside of the CMS is that it canalizes our collective creativity by forcing e-learning technologies into the familiar classroom categories of lectures, discussions, and exams (with an occasional opportunity to chat with the professor or other students “after class”). The overall effect of these developments is that many educators and administrators are locked into a “classroom on steroids” model of e-learning that is more preoccupied with the categories of accessibility and convenience than pedagogical effectiveness and skill development. (leer más...)

jueves, 12 de mayo de 2005

Elearnity, Europe 's leading Corporate Learning Analyst, today announced research concluding that large corporate adopters are changing their approach and contractual commitments for generic e-learning to better focus the value proposition. Corporates are focusing on driving recurrent usage around a narrow set of generic titles linked to major business initiatives, and are increasingly adopting non-traditional forms of e-learning such as on-line reference materials for on-demand learning support to an often sceptical audience.

Elearnity, Europe 's leading independent Learning Analyst, today announced research concluding that large corporate adopters are changing their approach and contractual commitments for generic e-learning content to better focus the value proposition. Based on analysis of background research discussions together with conclusions from a recent Elearnity Forum corporate roundtable on E-learning Content, Elearnity has concluded that whilst vendors have largely focused on growing the breadth of their curriculum through acquisition and expansion of catalogue, big catalogues are seemingly not the primary drivers of usage and value for corporates. Elearnity analysis of corporate activity is showing: (leer más...)

[link] TDT drives e-learning initiatives

TDT is proud to announce the appointment of Cinthia Del Grosso as an Industry e-learning Advocate for the 2005 Australian Flexible Learning Framework's ‘Engaging Industry' Project.

For the past three years in her role as National Project Manager with TDT Australia, Cinthia has worked to expand the e-learning knowledge of Australia's transport and logistics industry workers – a reasonable challenge when one considers her ‘target market' are themselves on the move via road, sea or air for most of the working day!

TDT Australia is the Industry Skills Council for Transport and Logistics and sets the training agenda for all competencies required in the industry.

"Mobile or m-learning is still in its infancy in Australia," Cinthia says.

"But through the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs), pocket personal computers (PCs) and mobile (or Smart) phones, it's an exciting educational phenomenon which is really beginning to take a firm hold of Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system." (leer más...)

martes, 10 de mayo de 2005

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2005 09:12:29 AM]Sign into earnIndiatimes pointsBANGALORE: Corporate India is embracing the Internet and the Intranet beyond just e-mails and information gathering.

A constant need to update and educate employees in order to keep them abreast of the latest trends in their business is leading to a faster adoption of e-learning. IDC estimates the e-learning market to touch $23 billion by the end of 2005 from the present $15 billion.

“India has just woken up to e-learning. The three key components to e-learning are technology (enterprise application), content and services,” says Karthik K.S., co-founder and managing director, 24X7 Learning, a Bangalore-based e-learning company. (leer más...)

Key findings from mobile e-learning trials are published this month by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) in a report Mobile technologies and learning.

This report presents some innovative ideas on how mobile technologies, such as smartphones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), can be useful learning aids - particularly with young people who have not succeeded through traditional education.

The report contains the findings of a three-year pan-European research and development project, called m-learning, that set out to investigate whether mobile technologies can engage ‘hard to reach’ young people (the ‘NEETs’ group) in learning, and help those with literacy and numeracy difficulties. The project ended with the largest trials of mobile learning materials and systems conducted to date, involving nearly 250 young people (aged 16- 24) in the UK, Italy and Sweden. Most were unemployed, many had dropped out of education (or were considered to be at risk of doing so) and some were homeless or travellers.

The two mobile devices most used in the project were(1) hybrid PDA/phone devices running the Pocket PC operating system (the XDA II) and(2) hybrid phone/PDA devices running the Symbian operating system (Sony Ericsson P800/P900s). Although these devices are more sophisticated than the cheaper mobile phones used by most people, sales are soaring and it is likely that they will become affordable for many young people in the near future. (leer más...)

sábado, 7 de mayo de 2005

e-learning is slowly gaining ground as companies try to save time and costs.
Shobhana Subramanian / Mumbai May 4, 2005
Sanjaya Sharma
Two years ago, a couple of software engineers at Patni Computers had to be urgently trained for a critical application assignment. With no skilled personnel in India, the only trainer Patni had available was in Singapore.

But with the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic raging there, there was no way he could wing his way down.

So what happened? Thanks to the e-learning systems installed by Patni, he could train the engineers in time so that they could complete the work for their client.

Patni isn’t the only company that is taking recourse to e-learning. Today, e-learning encompasses all aspects of life, and is used for induction programmes, sales training or softskills, computer applications, medical courses for nurses and paramedics or to work towards a degree in law or history.

And if you thought that only IT firms were cashing in on their inherent technology strengths, think again – manufacturing firms too are using e-learning tools for, yes, the shop floor. (leer más...)

viernes, 6 de mayo de 2005

[not] Workshop on e-learning management.By A Staff Reporter

MUSCAT — A two-day workshop on a new e-learning management system, ‘Moodle’ has concluded at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU).

Moodle is a high quality learning management system (LMS), which the SQU Centre for Educational Technology (CET), is currently evaluating alongside WebCT as an e-learning platform as it is understood that it is easy for teachers to use and provides more flexibility in teaching than other systems. At present WebCT is being used for e-learning at SQU.

Two e-learning experts from Waikato Institute of Technology (WINTEC), New Zealand ran the workshop.

John Clayton, manager of the e-learning initiatives at WINTEC, addressed the first session, “Why Moodle?” explaining the advantages of the system. Clayton said: “One of the clear benefits of an open source system is that it can be easily modified to include customised features of particular benefit to each institute. The absence of any licensing costs also means that more funds can be spent on the preparation of educational material. This benefits local students rather than overseas investors, and also means that smaller education institutes are able to avail themselves of a quality e-learning management system.” (leer más...)

jueves, 5 de mayo de 2005

New York, NY -- e-Learning courses were evaluated by a panel of judges from the software, training and education industries. Winners were announced, with gold, silver and bronze finalists each receiving a prize.

ScribeStudio today announced the winners of the e-Learning Winter Olympics. The Olympics were an opportunity for ScribeStudio.com Subscribers to showcase the online courses they created with ScribeStudio’s e-Learning toolkit. Subscribers had a month to work on their courseware before presenting to a panel of judges.

Finalists were selected from a wide range of industries, from high school language departments, to large manufacturing companies performing customer and sales training online.

Drumroll please…The Gold medal, and a Dell computer, goes to Jeremy Arntsen, Senior Implementation Services Specialist with Friedkin Information Technology, a Houston-based technology firm. The purpose of the Friedkin e-Learning program, located at portalannouncementstraining.ScribeStudio.com, is to train employees on new software applications. (leer más...)

Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today announced the delivery of a ''DSL in-the-Sky'' broadband access satellite gateway and associated terminal equipment to the Almisehal Group of Saudi Arabia.Saudi Arabia: 1 hour, 19 minutes agoThe Almisehal Group will operate a broadband access service on behalf of the Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC).

Via this contract, the Almisehal Group - which will be responsible of the satellite gateway operation, its support and all terminal equipment - will develop STC's broadband service provider business in Saudi Arabia. They will be able to offer Internet web browsing, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and e-learning services to schools, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and private homes throughout the Kingdom. (leer más...)

miércoles, 4 de mayo de 2005

[not]Hilton International Wins Middle East E-Learning Award for GlobalEnglish Online English Program

BRISBANE, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 05/03/2005 -- GlobalEnglish Corporation, the leading online English learning and support service provider for business communication, today announced that its client Hilton International has been selected for a Middle East Learning & Technology Award, in the category of Most Creative Implementation of an E-Learning Strategy.

"The success that Hilton International has achieved in improving the English communication skills of its front-line employees stands as an example for all global learning programs," said Ron Hoge, GlobalEnglish® President and CEO. "The data on productivity improvements is impressive, but more importantly, Hilton International has been successful in deploying a learning program that is aligned to a key business objective -- fulfillment of its brand promise to deliver excellent customer service."

The awards program was sponsored by Xpert Learning, a consultancy on integrated e-learning solutions, in collaboration with the organizers of the Middle East Learning & Technology Conference in Dubai, UAE, on April 5 and 6, 2005. Winners were announced during the event's closing ceremony on April 6. (leer más...)

martes, 3 de mayo de 2005

Individuals interacting as a community of learners were observed constructing transformative knowledge in an interactive, real-time eClassroom designed and implemented for teaching a university level course at the Applied Human Sciences Department, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. The three academic credits eCourse, eAHSC/230 ‘INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIPS,’ was taught without face-to-face interactions, and by using the Department’s ‘learning-by-doing’ pedagogy in the Fall/2001. Interactive Diagrams of a typical one-hour segment show a dynamic community engaged in inquiry based learning and reflective practice. It was observed that online real-time, instantaneous interactions are ‘parallel’ in nature, as opposed to ‘face-to-face’ interactions that are seen as ‘serial’. ‘Parallel’ communication enhanced the perceived worth of the group to be many times the sum of the worth of its individuals. It is this synergy that made collaborative learning attractive to and effective for the participants. A new paradigm called “Perceived Anonymity of Self to Other” is proposed. Related to this phenomenon, the concept of ‘privacy zone’ is introduced. The implications for human development training, in academia, in the helping professions, and in organizational or professional development are considered.Background

The scope of definitions and models available to describe Distance Education accurately reflects the rapid growth and change occurring in the field. Steiner (1995) discusses two categories of distance education delivery systems, synchronous and asynchronous. She identifies synchronous instruction as requiring the simultaneous participation of all students and instructors and describes interaction in “real time” as an advantage of synchronous instruction. Steiner (1995) identifies an element of Distance Education to be “the separation of teacher and learner during at least a majority of each instructional process” (¶ 3). Synchronous interactions based instructional delivery may not constrain the participants to be physically present at the same location, but it does impose on participants a set time schedule.

The ‘Models of Distance Education, A Conceptual Planning Tool,’ developed by University of Maryland University College for the University System of Maryland Institute for Distance Education (USM, 1997) explores the application of various pedagogies to distance learning environments and offers a more inclusive overview: